Welcome From Fr Lee
GET TO KNOW ME!
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Lee McNaughton, although my first name is actually Malcolm. There is a strange tradition in our family, going back four generations on my father’s side. One of the men in each generation is given the name Malcolm, but addressed by their middle name, which in my case is Lee. Lee also happens to be my mother’s maiden name. My mother’s side of the family comes from the region around Brockville, Ontario.
I grew up in the Ottawa Valley and was born in Carleton Place, but moved to Arnprior just before starting kindergarten. My mother and father are both still alive, and living in Arnprior, as are my brother, two sisters, one niece and six nephews.
I lived a fairly uneventful life in my teen years, playing hockey, while pining to see the world. I became a Christian at 17. At that time my parents were attending the Pentecostal Church in Arnprior, where I began to attend as well. While I was at the church, I attended a Bible study, led by a couple who would often pray for the wife’s sister who was living on a kibbutz in Israel . I remember jokingly saying that maybe one day I would do the same. From my lips to God’s ear – before the year was out I in fact ended up on the same program and even met the sister in Israel before she left. The program was supposed to be nine weeks long, living on a kibbutz and showing the love of Christ by the sweat of your brow. I found it so exciting, I extended my stay and ended up staying nine months, and had the opportunity to travel extensively through Israel. After that I was also able to travel to many of the other places I had pined for as a teen, including Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, then taking a ship across the Mediterranean and travelling through Europe.
During my time in Israel I began to feel a call towards some sort of ministry, and so I applied to go to Bible college in Saskatchewan, where I attended for three years, graduating in 1987. I then attended Carleton University in Ottawa, earning a degree in history and religion. While at university I became a volunteer at Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, and when I graduated in 1989, the staff person John Bowen recruited me to join IVCF. In that same year I started attending an Anglican church in downtown Ottawa, where the most important thing that happened to me was meeting my wife Pauline. I was on staff with IVCF for five years, working in high schools in Ottawa and then afterwards getting married and moving to Toronto, where I continued working for IVCF at Ryerson University another 4 years while studying at Wycliffe College, as I pursued ordination in the Anglican Church.
I have been a priest for just over 20 years, serving in a number of ministry settings, as well as serving for a few years as Chaplain at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Pauline has worked in adult education throughout her career, and is a senior manager with the Ministry of Education, responsible for adult education and other programs in the Student Achievement Division.
We both love travelling, unfortunately for the last few years that has not been possible . We’re hoping that very shortly, with the end of the Covid restrictions, we will be able to head back out on the sea. We thoroughly enjoy going on sea cruises. In fact our last cruise was set to begin just as the pandemic started, and we were only aboard ship two hours when it was cancelled.
Pauline and I are looking forward to this next stage in my our lives at St. Paul’s. We also both enjoy gardening and we are looking forward to planting hot peppers and tomatoes and kohlrabi and other things in the plot beside the rectory.
Lee
Scripture
‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NRSV-A)